Samuel Sebastian Wesley was one of the major figures of Victorian
music. In addition to his fame as a composer he was equally well-known
- or infamous - for his obstreperous personality and his constant
efforts to raise the standards of cathedral performance and composition.
He served in five churches and four cathedrals in the course of his
career. When one also considers that he was the grandson of the great
hymn-writer, the grand nephew of the Apostle of Methodism and the
son of an equally talented and eccentric composer, one could see that
he would be hard to miss in the mid-Victorian world.

This disc comprises several of Wesley’s most famous anthems as well
as an Evening Service (part of a set of services for the complete
day), a well-known hymn (Hereford), an organ Larghetto
and a sturdy psalm setting by Wesley’s father Samuel. While Samuel
Sebastian is known as a composer of anthems and hymns, he also wrote
a large amount of organ music, much of it for domestic, not ecclesiastical,
consumption. The Larghetto was written for chamber organ
and is in a more classical style than the anthems but equally demonstrative
of Wesley’s sensitivity to key relationships. The Magnificat and
Nunc Dimittis impresses with its skilful writing in eight parts
and Wesley’s ability to set this somewhat difficult text as dramatically
as he does his anthems.

Wesley inaugurated his anthem-writing career with The Wilderness
and the Solitary Place of 1832. This is a mini-oratorio and its
complexity must have astounded listeners at the premiere in Hereford
Cathedral. Equally astounding would have been its operaticsense of
drama and its independent organ part. Blessed be the God and Father,
written about a year later, is equally impressive, showing a great
advance in Wesley’s harmonic and dramatic abilities. Somewhat less
inspiring is O Give Thanks Unto the Lord, but this still
shows increasing technical ability and has a beautiful treble solo.

The key to Wesley’s anthems is his skill in part-writing. He uses
this ability to focus and increase the dramatic intensity of the music.
This is no more evident than in the famous short anthem Wash Me
Throughly where the vocal lines convey the isolation so evident
in the text of Psalm 51. Ascribe unto the Lord (from
c. 1851) is another extended anthem with an almost programmatic contrast
between the idol-worshippers and those “that fear the Lord”. The spirit
of Mendelssohn is very evident in this work but the vocal texture
is all Wesley. The last anthem on the disc Thou Wilt Keep Him
in Perfect Peace is perhaps the ultimate refinement of Wesley’s
life-long search for the utmost simplicity of both emotion and means
of expression.

Most of the works on this disc have been recorded many times before
(see below). Only the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis is something
of a rarity. Sonically, the combination here of Wesley’s music and
Scott’s chapel - roughly contemporaneous as they are - is not always
felicitous. There is a frequent deadening of the basses’ lowest notes
and the opposite effect on the trebles. The St. John’s choir itself
sings beautifully, especially in the larger, five-part, anthems, although
the there are some individual problems with bass and treble solos.
The organist John Challenger is to be commended both for his playing
both of the Larghetto and of the accompaniments to the anthems.

The chief merit of this disc, however, is the leadership of Andrew
Nethsingha. He brings complete clarity to the complex vocal lines
while never losing sight of the dramatic import of the text and of
the overall musical structure. His previous recordings at St. John’s
(see reviews 1,
2)
have frequently been exemplary and this one is no exception. For this
reason this disc ranks highly as a basic compendium of Wesley’s music.